Nothing like a good steak? That depends. Meat consumption in Germany has changed in recent decades. This relates to fluctuating consumption levels for traditional mainstays of German cuisine,
being one famous example, as well as different consumer decisions due to the emergence of new products such as
. Meat consumption is made up of not only consumption by humans, but of using meat in animal feed and losses due to industrial processing. Much is being said and written about the negative health effects of eating red meat. Coupled with growing consumer awareness of how livestock and poultry are not always kept in animal-friendly conditions, or just how the meat industry uses natural resources,
has long since become a topic connected to a multitude of issues beyond just buying and eating: environmental protection, sustainability, climate change, farming, and animal rights.
Meat or no meat?
The amount of
meat consumed in Germany has changed significantly since the 1990s. Consumption peaked in 1993 at over 7.73 thousand tons of dressed weight, then later reached its so far lowest point after 2021. This could be due to the reasons mentioned above, as well as an increasing variety of other products sold in food retail which claim to be sources of protein. One of the leading arguments around the Yes or No of meat consumption is whether it is at all necessary to consume meat if consumers can get the protein they need from other food products, thus contributing to less pressure on the resources needed for meat production. Pork was still the most
consumed type of meat in Germany, followed by poultry, then beef and veal. Buying fresh meat may be a guarantee for better quality due to appropriate origins, and therefore contribute to reaching individual sustainable consumption goals. In fact, based on a survey conducted in 2023, around 44 percent of German consumers were
willing to pay up to 15 euros for one kilogram of meat produced sustainably.
Meating in the middle
While consumption levels have indeed changed in Germany and new consumer trends influence the choice of products, recent data shows that
eating meat still remains more or less the norm in many countries around the world. As of 2022, in Europe, Spain and Italy were ahead of Germany in terms of respondents stating they regularly ate meat. Meat production is a global industry, one which remains competitive despite or even more so amid the emergence of meat substitute products. The world's leading
beef and veal exporter was Brazil, followed by India and the U.S. Striking the balance between global demands and long-term effects of production on
natural resources is a reality the industry has to face in order to remain viable.
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